Aditya Birla Retail Ltd (ABRL), an Aditya Brila Group subsidiary, stepped into retail arena around seven years ago with “More” retail chain. The acquisition of southern retail chain Trinethra in 2006 marked ABRL’s entry into retailing. Soon, the company launched More, its own brand for its supermarket business. Eventually, all Trinethra stores were rechristened. Its first large format store was launched in Vadodara in 2008. Thereafter, the company kept on adding new stores and covering more cities. Having grown remarkably since inception, the chain today has become a major player with pan India presence. ABRL has also achieved the distinction of being one of the three leading value retail players in India. With current 505 stores across 60 plus Indian cities, ABRL is going strong. It deals in the best of merchandise from renowned Indian and international brands. To ensure quality of farm fresh products offered at its stores, the company has forged direct linkages with growers for daily supplies. Of late, the company has as well been putting a lot of energy in developing in-house brands. As of now, ABRL’s own private brand portfolio offers products in categories as in food, home & personal care, apparel and footwear.
In recent years, Indian economy slowed down posing a number of challenges for retailers. Each of them is resorting to different strategies to overcome them. As per reports, over the past two years, Aditya Birla Retail has undertaken several major initiatives such as enhanced range, localization of products, high on-shelf availability and better customer experience at its stores. Some of the non performing stores were closed down. All such measures culminated into strong double digit like to like growth during the period. Notably, a good number of More stores are operational in south India. To expand further, the company plans to go deeper into its stronghold markets. So, it seems that ABRL has decided to play to its strength to carry forward its growth momentum.
Progressive Grocer’s Nov’ 14 issue takes stock of ABRL’s journey, operational nitty-gritty, and its expansion strategy.
